Carousing Jihadists

The hijackers, we were told,
were extreme Islamic fundamentalists,
driven by their religious fervor to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Their religious extremism was also used,
if mostly subconsciously,
to help explain their improbable string of successes
in first taking over four aircraft with primitive weapons,
and then piloting three of them to their intended targets
with astonishing precision,
(precision all the more surprising given their
inexperience as pilots).
We know that athletes can achieve incredible feats through
discipline, practice, and endurance.
In a similar way, it's easy to imagine that the hijackers
suceeded against nearly impossible odds through rigorous discipline
borne of their religious conviction.

Yet some of these hijackers had used credit cards to pay for drinks
and lap dances at a topless bar the night before,
according to the FBI.
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There are also reports of hijackers leaving copies of the Koran behind,
once at a bar, and once in a rental car --
surprising behavior for devout Muslims.

The alleged hijackers did many things
that seemed calculated to establish their identities --
which in several cases were apparently
stolen identities.